Hi people, I will introduce a special food which is quite good for your health quite bad for your nose, that is stinky tofu.

Stinky tofu is a kind of fermented tofu. Although it smells very nausea, it is a very popular snack particularly in China and Indonesia where it is usually found at night markets.

In 1940's, stinky tofu was a military staple for soldiers to patroll the China's borders. As wars ended and Taiwan's night-market culture developed, so did stronger, spicier and more diverse flavors of stinky tofu.

Like the most of fermented European cheeses, stinky tofu will give you an unforgettable impression; non-native eaters find it either exotically tasty or unbearably repugnant. Twice-fermented stinky tofu, chou doufu ru, makes even stinky tofu smell good. Even many native eaters can't stand the badly smell.

To make modern stinky tofu, fresh tofu marinates for a couple of hours in a brine of vegetables, tofu and dried shrimp that has been fermenting for six months or more. Correctly made, the brine produces a unique rather lacy texture in the tofu, and the insides taste mild and custardy. The typical open fermentation methods allow for easy contamination of the developing brine. Impatient venders have been arrested for faking stinky tofu by adding gunpowder, rotten fish and other inedible additions to their brine.

Once it has been correctly fermented, the stinky tofu is cut into bite-size squares for cooking. The tofu may be steamed but is most commonly deep fried. A typical dish would be deep-fried squares of the fragrant tofu drizzled with black vinegar, with chopped black beans and kimchi sprinkled over the top. Connoisseurs of stinky tofu say the magic is in the topping, which is made of soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil. If you get the opportunity, try mixing these four sauces into your own blend: soy sauce, garlic and radish pastes and chili oil.

Stinky tofu is even a very interesting study topic among Chinese chemistry students. Tsinghua University's bio-science research lab examined a sample of stinky tofu and found more than 15 kinds of active bacteria swimming around in it, which is quite similar to the types of colonization found in yogurt.